Name: Conger Eel, Baked
Ingredients: 1 foot long conger eel; plain fish stuffing; greased paper; cooking tape; hot fat for frying; flour for dredging; breadcrumbs for dredging; piquant sauce or gravy for serving

Why it works: Flour and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,078 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Conger Eel, Baked

Ingredients

Directions

Skin and clean the conger eel, then dry it well.
Stuff the eel with plain fish stuffing and tie greased paper over each end, securing it with tape.
Heat hot fat in a baking tin, dredge the eel with flour, and baste it well.
Cook gently for an hour or longer, basting frequently until well done.
Serve on a hot dish, dredged with breadcrumbs, and accompany with a piquant sauce or gravy.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,078 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,487 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fish + flourtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,532 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).